Real life monster makers! Meet the men who make your favourite horror movie monsters from Pennywise the Clown to The Thing, Predator, the Alien Facehuggers, Hollow Man and more

Meet the men who have made your favourite horror movie monsters from Pennywise the Clown to The Thing, Predator, the Alien Facehuggers, Hollow Man and more.

PICS BY STUDIO ADI / CATERS NEWS

Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr, both 58, from San Fernando Valley in California, USA, have created hundreds of creatures for some of the biggest Hollywood horror blockbusters.

They form the fear-inducing real-life creations, ranging from special-effects make-up to man in a suit costumes and larger-than-life conceptions that require hydraulics and cranes to move.

The process starts with sketches where they consider everything from appearance to the character’s movement, before progressing onto moulds, rubber skins, animatronics and more.

Notable characters from their horror hits, include this year’s Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s novel IT, Predator, The Thing, Hollow Man, vampires from I Am Legend, Alien Facehuggers and more.

PICS BY STUDIO ADI / CATERS NEWS – Tom and Alec (right) after winning the oscar for Death Becomes Her

The pair who founded Studio Amalgamated Dynamics Inc (ADI) speak out about the ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of creations as they approach their company’s 30th Anniversary.

Alec said: “Pennywise make-up resonated so powerfully with people, it’s very gratifying and reminded me of when Alien came out because of the great reaction we received.

“The director came to us with a design, but we had to interpret it into a living, real-thing that worked on the face, was able to emote and express properly – all the elements came together really beautifully.

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“It feels like something that has been so embraced by the public and clearly they were ready for and craving it, I’ve got to give full credit to the team.

“More recently we’ve been involvedw with Netflix show Bright which is coming out and required two hundred orc characters, to creating the new Predator characters for Shane Black’s new Predator film, the Annabelle: Creation and also a spin-off of The Conjuring.

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“Practical effects are more critical to the success of a horror film than any other genre, the audience expects a certain quality to the horror character, effect, gore or wounds.

“I feel that if you watch a graphic or CGI image, it can be too far out of reality and all the fear dissipates, compared to films like Marvel where it’s accepted, because it’s light-hearted, fun and an extension of disbelief.

“To begin with, the audience accepts a lot more of a digital look for those kinds of films that horror just can’t get away with and you need practical effects.

“We’ve done other movies like X-Men, Death Becomes Her, our resumes are so long with a wide variety, we feel very fortunate over the years.

PICS BY STUDIO ADI / CATERS NEWS – Tom with Robin Williams, Tom would go on to act as the man in the suit for multiple films

“We were just kids taking every opportunity that came our way, we never stopped to think how our work may have an impact on people or pop-culture.

“For our monsters and creatures, we receive a lot of appreciation for the artform and are grateful for the fans who keep it alive and keep the franchises going.”

The team believe the success behind bringing some of their famous otherworldly creatures to life was by taking inspiration from and intrenching elements of the real world.

Tom said: “We love to design things with reference to real-life, people in our audiences who come to see these movies live in the real world so even when bringing an alien from another world it needs natural contexts.

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“If there isn’t something reminiscent of the real-world then you are in danger of pushing the audience so far that it seems unreal.

“For example, with Tremors there were these gigantic worms that moved underground, we did a lot of drawings, incorporating textures of certain animals and had a snapping turtle jaw that become the main head.

“Whether the audience recognised and noticed it, we want people to see it and feel somewhere in the back of their head that it’s real because they’ve seen elements of the creation elsewhere.”

Death Becomes Her won the Alec and Tom Best Visual Effects at the Oscars and Academy Awards along with nominations Alien 3, Hollow Man and Starship Troopers.